Women Who Start a Family at This Age are More Likely to Have Intelligent Children

It's not what we expected

By Sarah Lindig

13 May, 2016

If you're in your
twenties, you're probably familiar with the feeling of being bombarded
by engagement and baby announcements every time you log onto Facebook.
Not matching pace in the rat race to couple up, settle down, and start a
family? That's okay – a new study suggests that it might be wise to sit
tight and wait a bit before having kids.

Researchers
at the London School of Economics analysed data from the Millennium
Cohort Study, which monitors the development of 18,000 British children
for an extended period of time, in order to determine the effect of a
mother's age on the growth and development of her child. The golden
years? Your thirties.

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The study published in the journal of Biodemography and Social Biology
determined that babies born to women in their thirties are more likely
to be intelligent, score higher in cognitive testing and outperform
those born to women in their twenties or forties.

Additionally,
"First-time mothers in their 30s are, for example, likely to be more
educated, have higher incomes, are more likely to be in stable
relationships, have healthier lifestyles, seek prenatal care earlier and
have planned their pregnancies," the researcher Alice Goisis told The Times.

And
while women who give birth in their forties tend to breastfeed and read
to their children more, and smoke less, this age bracket is the most
likely to have obese children – as women of this age were found to be
less likely than younger mothers to play with their kids.